New York Yankee Russell Martin heads home after his walkoff home run to beat the Oakland A's on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

Published on Fri Sep 21 2012

Russell Martin led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a homer off Sean Doolittle, and the AL East-leading New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 2-1 Friday night for their sixth straight win.

Brandon Moss hit a towering home run to right field at Yankee Stadium with one out in the ninth inning, off Rafael Soriano, to spoil a dominant three-hit outing for CC Sabathia and tie it 1-all, stunning the boisterous announced crowd of 40,759 into silence. It was Soriano’s fourth blown save in 46 chances.

The Orioles broke a tie with the Athletics for the first wild-card spot with 12 games remaining.

Boston’s Jon Lester (9-13) lost for the first time in 21 career starts against the Orioles. He had been 14-0, the longest winning streak against the Orioles by a pitcher at the start of his career since 1901.

Gonzalez (7-4) allowed two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and one walk as the Orioles improved to 6-1 at Fenway Park.

The victory combined with a St. Louis loss moved the Brewers within 1 ½ games of the Cardinals for the final NL wild-card berth.

Held to one run over eight innings by Nationals starter Edwin Jackson, the Brewers scored three against Clippard (2-6).

John Axford pitched the ninth for his 32nd save.

CUBS 5, CARDINALS 4: Chris Carpenter had a solid season debut and Pete Kozma swiped home for the go-ahead run, putting the Cardinals in position to extend their win streak to five. Then it all fell apart in a hurry.

Chicago’s Darwin Barney connected for a tying two-run homer off Fernando Salas with two out in the ninth inning and David DeJesus hit a game-ending RBI single in the 11th.

Carpenter went 4-0 in the 2011 post-season, but hadn’t pitched since winning Game 7 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers. He had surgery July 19 to relieve a nerve ailment that caused numbness up and down the right side of his body.

“My stuff wasn’t as sharp as I’d like and it wasn’t as sharp as it’s been in the simulated games,” Carpenter said. “But I tried to get as many outs as I could and give us a chance. It was fun to get back out there. Hopefully my stuff will get better and sharper as I get out there more often.”

Carpenter threw 77 pitches, with a light rain falling throughout the game. The 37-year-old allowed two runs and five hits, struck out two and walked one.

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